


The world of dark

by Apega



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Mostly just how versdyn met, One Shot, Origin Story, Vampires, related work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25842502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apega/pseuds/Apega
Summary: Verstael had been fascinated with vampires since the day he was attacked by one as a child. Decades later his most ardent wish became reality when the original vampire himself showed up at his laboratory. Little did Verstael know however that he brought death with him.A prequel and origin story to ShadCat's "Between Two Worlds" which describes how Verstael and Ardyn met and how both of them became vampires.
Relationships: Verstael Besithia/Ardyn Izunia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	The world of dark

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Between Two Worlds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25703575) by [ShadCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadCat/pseuds/ShadCat). 



> Please remember to take a look at ShadCat's Fanfiction "Between Two Worlds", which is absolutely fantastic! This fic is Verstael's and Ardyn's origin story, but it is not necessary to know ShadCat's fic to understand it. It's just two horrible idiots falling in love with each other and living with the consequences.
> 
> Special thanks to Choke-a-Bro (Vanya_Deyja) for beta reading this OS!

It was neither dark nor eerie when Verstael first saw Ardyn. The old tales always spoke of encounters with vampires in the darkness from which they were born. They spoke of hidden figures emerging from the dark, shying from the light to crawl back into the shadows from which they were inseparable after being merged with them for too long. The tales were old and varied in origin, but they all used their words to paint the same picture of dark horror and murderous evil.

When Verstael first saw Ardyn, however, it wasn‘t night nor stormy but a warm, early summer evening. The sky was greying and shining like the insides of a seashell, bright between silver clouds that promised rain for the night. Cool wind had chilled the former summer heat of the day which Verstael had spent in the air-conditioned halls of his laboratory. He had only emerged a few minutes earlier to make some use of the last few hours of daylight when the dark figure suddenly stood on the other side of the small backyard. It had made no sound and when the scientist finally looked up and noticed it standing there it was impossible to tell how long the vampire had already been present.

Verstael had only been able to stare. The dying light caught in the flickering ends of Ardyn's hair, glowing like ripe strawberries where the strands were sticking out from under his hat. His amber eyes had glowed like fine whisky in the cold light, deep and unreadable and oh so mesmerizing under the shadow of his hat.

Even as he had never seen the red vampire before Verstael knew instantly who was looking at him so curiously. The scientist had read every documented encounter with the original vampire and knew every description of his appearance by heart, even though they all differed greatly. One thing they had in common however and they were all strangely wrong about it: Ardyn was no monster born from shadows and unspoken fears. He was no more than a man standing there, so simple and yet beautiful at once.

They looked at each other silently for a while; Ardyn standing like a shadow against the silver sky and Verstael looking up to him from where he was sitting on the hard floor. The tea in his cup was cold when the vampire smiled at him and took off his hat. Verstael marveled at his wild hair and when Ardyn spoke his voice sent goosebumps down the scientists back.

“Drinking tea to end a day of hard work?” The vampire asked, his voice dark and warm, a strange melody in his words like the long-forgotten memory of an ancient rhyme. Verstael could only wonder how people had been able to describe the immortal man so falsely as a horrendous beast when he was really such a marvel.

The scientist started to smile, no fear in his heart. He had been fascinated with vampires from the day he was attacked by one, when he had been no more than a small child, almost killed by the grizzly looking old woman. This man however had nothing to do with the feral creature from decades ago. Reaching beside himself he raised the kettle.

“There‘s still some tea left,” he said and the vampire’s smile grew until Verstael could see his fangs. He had never felt more confident about a decision in his life.

___________

Verstael and Ardyn had been together ever since. The scientist, who had been studying vampires and their parasitic curse for over a decade, was more than thrilled to have the original vampire under his microscope. Ardyn on the other hand had simply caught the news of a young scientist in Niflheim rapidly uncovering facts about the scourge that had turned him into an undead being. The old vampire had been too curious about this so he had come to see the fabled scientist for himself.

Truth be told, Ardyn had been more than impressed with Verstael’s progress and his discoveries regarding the scourge. The scientist’s research had surpassed every preceding attempt at penetrating into the secret of the demonic curse and Ardyn found himself almost speechless. The energy Verstael put into his studies was plainly astonishing, which led Ardyn to stay with him and willingly help with the experiments. Weeks turned into months and months into years and before either of them realized they had become inseparable.

Their mutual fascination for the scourge had only been surpassed by their fascination for each other. Right from the first time they had seen each other there had been a certain pull between them drawing the two men closer and closer towards each other. It became almost like a game between them, their mutual attraction obvious and yet unspoken, too delicious to destroy with a simple confession. They circled each other for months, flirting and bickering and feeding off of each other’s attention towards them. In the end, however, they were both far too passionate to keep their distance for too long and once they had finally touched there was no letting go again.

Verstael had never experienced love or passion before, but Ardyn was oh so willing to show him, nevertheless. The vampire proved himself to be a creature of love, again and again, teaching the stoic scientist to listen to his heart and his desires. Between Ardyn's whispering and kisses Verstael, for the first time in his life, forgot all about his studies and his research focusing his attention on something that filled him with more happiness than ever before.

Yet their passion remained unnamed for quite a while, even if Verstael had been fine with that. Ardyn's skin was always cold like an early winter night and Verstael loved to feel the proof of his immortality against his own skin time and time again when they lay together. It burned against his hot flesh in the moments of their passion and made his body shiver in excited fear whenever the vampire breathed chilly air against his throat. He was gentle, however, and patient for the time it took Verstael to address the problem of Ardyn's immortality. They both knew that their love was too complicated to just ignore the problem between them forever. Simply because in the end, there was no fate for a man who aged and one who didn’t. For the first few months however, they simply avoided the question altogether to enjoy each other’s presence recklessly for a little longer.

Aside from everything Verstael knew about the scourge Ardyn was amused with how little he knew of vampires and their origin. When hearing Verstael’s beliefs of what Ardyn's origin was the man had simply laughed, much to the scientist’s dissatisfaction. Verstael had thought himself very careful when collecting his information, critically examining every tale and report until he had come up with a seemingly trustworthy explanation of how Ardyn had become the first vampire. The man himself however had only turned gloomy after his initial laugh and scolded the whole report as an impious fairytale.

It had been a quiet night when Ardyn told Verstael of his becoming and what had actually happened more than a thousand years ago. The two men sat across from each other at Verstael’s desk when the vampire told his tale. It was that of two brothers, loving in blood but hateful against each other in their politics regarding a plague of old, a deadly illness that had carried off hundreds of good people back then. That night, Ardyn told Verstael of his mysterious powers and of his fiancé and how they together had tried to heal every man, woman, and child despite Somnus’ disapproval.

He told of their love and their forbidden passion and how during one night in a small barn to the side of a blooming field Ardyn had infected Aera. How he had accidentally bitten her in a heated kiss and how the love of his life had fallen sick and died not a day later. Verstael listened quietly to Ardyn's explanation of how Aera had become the first bloodborne vampire and how she had accepted her fate and welcomed her new position by his side for all eternity. The scientist could hear the grief in Ardyn's voice and saw the sorrow in his amber eyes as he spoke of the happiness they had felt when they realized that they would be together forever. Aera had been so hopeful, only to be slain not two weeks later by Ardyn’s own brother in the horror of his realization of what manner of creature she had become.

It was the ultimate turning point between the two brothers and the sole reason for the eternal fight between vampires and hunters. The Lucis Caelums, born through Somnus‘ blood and raised with his rage and fear, became the mortal enemies of Ardyn and everyone that he turned. The hunters justified their actions as an act of mercy and purification of the souls Ardyn had seemingly doomed. His bite was disparaged, his way of healing declared an act of violence, a murder that didn’t save a soul but seemingly cursed it for eternity. The real reason however, why Ardyn turned a dying soul to become a vampire, remained a mystery for the hunters blinded by god-driven bloodlust.

Ardyn explained to Verstael that night that he never bit out of hatred or as a punishment. The original vampire had remained a healer, despite the millennia, and horrific tales told about him. His bite wasn‘t an act of violence but one of love and care; the last hope for those who could already feel death’s breath on their lips. Ardyn turned those who wanted to live and who he cared for. He turned immortal every man and woman who he had ever loved gifting them life eternal as long as they freely wished for it.

The vampire had said his words with an assuring smile and Verstael had returned it softy asking if he would turn Verstael then too. Ardyn had chuckled at that and looked at him with a smirk only replying that he would if Verstael ever came to him to ask him of the favor before he had simply leant over the desk to prove his love with a kiss.

That night they finally became lovers in the truest sense of the word and when the sun rose Verstael knew that he had to make a decision. Even if it was the simplest he ever had to make in his life.

When Ardyn finally sank his teeth in Verstael’s throat and drank his life away the scientist could feel the relief in the vampire’s breath. At that moment Verstael realized that Ardyn had been more afraid of the scientist’s death than he himself had and a content acceptance settled over the dying man. No matter the outcome of his decision to allow the lethal poison of the scourge into his veins: he wanted to experience death in Ardyn's arms, held by the one person who had ever genuinely loved him.

Dying hurt. Verstael remembered the pain so vividly, like few other things in his life. The scourge had not brought coldness like he had anticipated but heat and sweat. It was like a fire burning in his blood, while his skin shivered under the cold sweat of the fever. Every move hurt and every breath became harder to draw than the last while Ardyn held him in his arms lovingly.

The vampire had told Verstael that it would hurt and that not all people he had tried to turn had survived. That he had held countless loved ones in his arms until they went still but never rose again and that Verstael too could lose his life without ever gaining what he hoped to achieve. Immortality however, had been too sweet not to try reaching and thus Verstael lay in Ardyn's arms and whimpered, while the poison ate away at his life.

Aside from the pain Verstael did not remember much from the long night of agony; only the heat and the growing fear of death and Ardyn's gentle arms. The vampire had done everything in his power to help Verstael survive long enough, helping him drink and feeding him whenever necessary. His cold hands lay around Verstael’s neck, cooling the feverish burn in his blood and preventing it from destroying the precious brain of the scientist. It was like a lethal game, trying to stay alive long enough until his body had become that of a vampire, until he could let go. Until then Ardyn could only try to help Verstael survive the torture of the transformation. His dark voice had told him stories to focus on whenever Verstael had threaten to lose himself in the pain. Dying was a fight, no matter how much Verstael wanted to let go.

When the time came and the smaller man finally became still in Ardyn’s arms the vampire had stopped breathing with him. His heart had grown quieter and stopped only a few hours before sunrise and Ardyn had pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. Verstael Besithia died that night in the arms of his true love. He died loving and trusting in the vampire who had brought death into his veins vanishing from the world with his last breath of air.

Ardyn had held him against himself, feeling the warmth of life leave Verstael’s body, until he was finally cold like all vampires. Only then had Ardyn began to whisper the scientist’s name. Softly at first, right against his skin where Ardyn had just kissed him, but clearly all the same. He had repeated Verstael’s name, and then again and again. Hopeful with every new whisper, slowly rocking the dead body in his arms.

When Ardyn’s voice broke at last and his grip became just slightly more desperate Verstael finally stirred.

_____

A few hundred years later a small, blond, child was created in the image of a certain scientist-vampire, infused with the blood of the scientist’s husband. Little did either of the two old vampires know what exactly they had just created nor what kind of trouble the small infant would cause in the future. In the end, however, it didn’t matter either way, because Prompto's story was a different kind entirely.


End file.
